^^^^ 



THE CIVIL SERVICE 

A Sketch of the Merit System 



By 

EDWARD CLARK MARSH 

Chairman of the Publication Committee, 
National Civil Service Reform League 



With 
Outline of Study Course in the 
Civil Service of Our Government 

By 
Mrs. C. L. Atwood 



National Civil Service Reform League 

8 West Fortieth Street 

New York 

1922 



Officers of 

National Civil Service Reform League 

President 
RICHARD HENRY DANA 

Vice Presidents 

William A. Aiken George McAneny 

George Burnham, Jr. Moorfield Storey 

Charles W. Eliot Lucius B. Swift 

William Dudley Foulke William H. Taft 

Arthur T. Hadley Frank A. Vanderlip 

Wm. Browne Hale Russell Whitman 

Franklin MacVeagh R. Francis Wood 

Secretary Treasurer 

Harry W. Marsh A. S. Frissell 

Chairman ef the Council 
Arthur R. Kimball 

The National Civil Service Reform League was organized 
in 1881, with George William Curtis as its first President. Since 
then the Presidents have been, in succession, Carl Schurz, Dan- 
iel C. Gilman, Joseph H. Choate, Charles W. Eliot and Richard 
Henry Dana. The object of the League is to establish and pro- 
mote a system of appointment, promotion and removal in the 
civil service throughout the United States founded upon the 
principle that public office is a public trust. The League is 
composed of local associations in various parts of the country 
and of individual members outside of local associations. 

For information as to the activities of the League, write the 
Secretary at 8 West 40th Street, New York City. * 



Copyright 1922 

by 

National Civil Service Reform League 



JAN I7I922©C,.A653564 



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THE CIVIL SERVICE 



A Sketch of the Merit System 



When a man "sets up in business for himself," there is usu- 
ally an ideal, or, if you prefer, an idea, back of his action. This 
idea is his business principle or policy, and in the beginning it 
is all-important, almost to the exclusion of every other consid- 
eration. He begins, let us say, in a small way, intent upon 
putting his principle to the test. At first he is not greatly 
concerned with organization. He does not bother about meth- 
ods. It is the idea that counts; any method will do that helps 
put it into practice. 

In somewhat that way our Government was established. 
When the Continental Congress issued its Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, the people of America decided to go into business for 
themselves. That decision was realized later in the adoption 
of a Constitution and the inauguration of our Federal Govern- 
ment. And it was the idea back of the new Government that 
absorbed attention, much more than methods of administra- 
tion. So it is not surprising that in the beginnings of our inde- 
pendent government there was little discussion of an employ- 
ment system. Systems come with growth. It is only in a big 
and highly organized business that these questions assume an 
importance which may mean life or death to the business. 

The Merit System, so-called, is simply the name of a method 
of handling the problem of employment in the civil service. 
Strictly speaking, the term *'civil service" embraces the entire 
body of persons in the service of any government, whether Fed- 
eral, state, county, township, or municipality, except those in 
the military or naval service. But in common practice the term 
is applied to the great army of employees of the various civil 
organizations who are not elected, but appointed or hired. 

An army, indeed. In the Federal service alone there are 



more than 400,000 employees. It has been estimated that in the 
entire public service of the Federal Government and all the 
states, counties, towns, cities and villages there are nearly three 
million persons. One in every thirty-five persons — man, woman 
and child — draws pay from the government. And we pay them 
in a year, all told, something more than three billion dollars. 
Every head of a family puts' his hand into his pocket each year 
and takes out on the average more than one hundred dollars to 
contribute to the pay of his public servants. The use of that 
money is a matter of some importance to every citizen. More 
• than that, unless the citizen gets this money's worth, he will 
lose much more in a great number of ways from the workings 
of an inefficient government. 

The Beginning of the Civil Service 

This huge army has grown from very modest beginnings — 
only a few thousands when our national Government was 
founded. At first its management was not one of the major 
problems of government. The power of appointment to most of 
the higher positions was lodged in the President, with the 
advice and consent of the Senate. Naturally the question of 
removals soon came up. It was argued that under the Consti- 
tution removals too could only be made with the consent of the 
Senate, and that this constituted a danger. An officer might 
abscond while the Senate was not in session, and the President 
could not forthwith remove him. So the first Congress, in 1789, 
recognized the constitutional right of the President to act alone 
in the matter of removals ; and the first weapon was forged for 
the spoilsman. 

During these first years of the Republic parties were solidify- 
ing and partisan feeling was mounting. Offices increased in 
number, and politicians began to study the subtle uses of patron- 
age. And in 1820 the second weapon of the spoils system was 
produced; a law was passed limiting to four years the term of 
office of district attorneys, collectors, and some other officials; 
postmasters were added in Jackson's administration. 

The Spoils System 

When the political overturn of Jackson's election occurred, 
there was already a strong demand that his friends should have 

4 



a material share in his triumph, a demand which was voiced later 
by Senator Marcy of New York in the memorable phrase: 'To 
the victor belong the spoils." Jackson turned out a goodly num- 
ber of incumbents to make room for his friends, though not so 
many as were displaced under later administrations. 

However, the principle was established, and for a generation 
it held sway in the Federal Government, with scarcely a serious 
protest. Employees were organized with the precision of a 
machine to work night and day for the political fortunes of their 
superiors; indeed, they held their positions under a sort of feu- 
dal tenure of partisan service, while the "outs" were seeking to 
gain the patronage, and when successful they, in their turn, 
were equally organized, till at last the politics of the country 
were largely run in the interests not of the public but of the 
officeholders and their patrons. 

Civil Service Reform in England 

In the meantime England was meeting the same problem in 
a form aggravated by years of past corruption, and was pro- 
ceeding in her slow, methodical way to seek a solution. In 1822 
Sir Robert Peel caused to be inserted in the Metropolitan Police 
Law for London a provision that no one should be admitted as 
qualified for the office of inspector or superintendent who had not 
been trained by actual service in each subordinate rank. A few 
years later Lord Melbourne permitted pass examinations to be 
held in some offices. Once the method of examination had been 
sanctioned, certain public officers in sheer self-defense made use 
of it to procure better employees. 

In 1854 a committee, of which Macaulay was a member, 
brought in a report which made the daring recommendation of 
an entirely open competition for place in the Indian service. 
The report was approved, and, in the words of Dorman B. Eaton, 
"the merit system was for the first time put into actual practice 
on a large scale." The time wag now ripe for an almost equally 
thorough-going reform in the English home service. The way 
had indeed already been prepared by an able and exhaustive 
report advocating a system of competitive examinations sub- 
mitted by Sir Stafford Northcote (afterwards Chancellor of the 
Exchequer) and Sir Charles Trevelyan in 1853. In 1855, when 



Palmerston had become Prime Minister, an Order in Council put 
into effect its most important recommendations. 

It was the end of the old system. In two years the House, 
which had disapproved the Order in Council by a close vote at 
the beginning, was passing a unanimous resolution calling for 
the extension of the principle of competition. The final step 
was taken July 4th, 1870, when an Order in Council abolished 
official patronage and substituted open competition. 

The Flowering of the Spoils System 

In the United States a hopeful beginning was made almost 
coincidently with the first real advance in England. A law was 
passed in 1853 requiring non-competitive examinations in cer- 
tain cases, and another law in 1864 provided for the examination 
of a number of consular clerks in the State Department. But 
these laws, which barely touched the fringes of the evil, were not 
followed up either by further legislation or by strong executive 
action, and they gradually fell into disuse. 

The sudden increase in the number of offices to be filled after 
the Civil War brought the scandal to an issue. How far the 
system could go in destroying all possibility of administrative 
efficiency may be illustrated by the following, from the first 
annual report of the Civil Service Commission, 1884: "When 
Draper, a Republican, was collector of the port at New York, he 
removed a subordinate as often as every third day for a whole 
year. When Smyth, another Republican, succeeded Draper as 
collector in 1866 he removed 830 of his 903 Republican subordi- 
nates at the average rate of three every four days. When Grin- 
nell, another Republican, succeeded Smyth as collector in 1869 
he removed 510 out of his 892 Republican subordinates in sixteen 
months. When Murphy, another Republican, succeeded Grinnell 
as collector in 1870 he removed Republicans at the rate of three 
every five days until 338 had been cast out. It was the expecta- 
tion of such spoils which gave every candidate for collector the 
party strength which secured his confirmation. Thus, during a 
period of five years in succession, collectors, all belonging to one 
party, for the purpose of patronage, made removals at a single 
office of members of their own party more frequently than at 



the rate of one every day. In 1,565 secular days 1,678 such 
removals were made." 

The Demand for Reform 

There v^^as in Congress during this period a representative 
from Rhode Island, Thomas Allen Jenckes, who is fairly entitled 
to be called the father of Civil Service Reform in the United 
States. Mr. Jenckes made a long and exhaustive study of the 
subject, and in 1868 brought in a report to the House as chair- 
man of a Joint Select Committee on Retrenchment. Congress 
was indifferent, but the report and speeches of Jenckes aroused 
public interest and discussion. In 1871 a law was passed author- 
izing the President to make regulations for admission to the 
civil service which would improve its efficiency. President Grant 
promptly appointed George William Curtis chairman of the com- 
mission of seven members to carry out the law. The results, how- 
ever, were disappointing. The commission labored under many 
embarrassments, and after 1873 Congress refused even the mea- 
ger appropriation asked. 

For a few years the commission lapsed, and the reform lan- 
guished. But in 1877 Hayes came to the Presidency, strongly 
committed to the reform by a statement in his letter accepting 
the nomination. He revived the commission, with Dorman B. 
Eaton as its most influential member. As Secretary of the 
Interior he appointed Carl Schurz, one of the most vigorous 
and effective of the early advocates of reform. He reappointed 
Thomas L. James as postmaster of New York, and in this office 
as well as in the New York Customs House a thorough trial 
was made of the new method of appointment and promotion for 
fitness, with convincing results. 

But something more dramatic than the sober and reasoned 
demand of President Hayes was required to crystallize public 
opinion and make it felt. In 1881 President Garfield, who had 
been a champion of the reform in Congress and had sadly dis- 
appointed its friends in his brief term, was assassinated by a 
disgruntled office-seeker. For years the early advocates of the 
fundamental reform— Sumner, Jenckes, Eaton, Curtis, Schurz— 
had endured the jibes and the abuse, always in store for those 



who attack entrenched corruption. Never had a band of reform- 
ers been more despised and hated. Suddenly they found. them- 
selves backed by a public demand that was irresistible. In the 
very month of August, 1881, while Garfield lay dying at I^ong 
Branch, the National Civil Service Reform League was started, 
with George William Curtis as its first president. The next 
year the Civil Service Reform bill, known as the Pendleton bill, 
was introduced by Senator George H. Pendleton of Ohio, and 
after passing both branches of Congress it became law by the 
approval of President Arthur on January 16, 1883. 

The Pendleton Act 

This statute, which was drafted at least in part by Dorman 
B. Eaton, has been called "one of the most skilfully devised stat- 
utes ever passed by a legislative body." It is still the basic law 
of the Federal civil service, and for nearly forty years it has 
resisted all effort either to improve it or to impair its effective- 
ness. It provided for "open competitive examinations for test- 
ing the fitness of applicants for the public service now classified 
or to be classified hereunder. Such examinations shall be prac- 
tical in their character." It specified that positions should be 
filled "by selections according to grades from among those graded 
highest." An opinion of the Attorney-General held that this per- 
mitted a choice among the three highest qualified applicants for 
any position. It prohibited political assessments upon office- 
holders, and provided for the appointment of three commission- 
ers, not more than two of whom should be adherents of the same 
political party. It placed the entire general administration of 
employment in the civil service in the hands of the Commission, 
leaving the preparation of suitable rules for the carrying out of 
its purpose to the President, with the assistance of the commis- 
sioners. The Pendleton bill and the law of 1871 thus placed 
large discretionary powers as to the administration of the civil 
service in the hands of the President. Dorman B. Eaton became 
a member of the first Civil Service Commission under the new 
law. 

So far-reaching were the effects of the Pendleton act that 
from the date of its passage, except for a superannuation bill in 
1920, there has been no further Federal legislation vitally affect- 

8 



ing the principles of the merit system. After 1883 the story 
shifts in the main from Congress to the executive. The first 
Commission prepared rules which were accepted with few 
changes by President Arthur, and the new method of appoint- 
ment has been in operation ever since. 

At the end of President Arthur's term, 15,573 places had been 
transferred to the classified service. Rhodes, in his History of 
the United States, volume VIII, gives, on the authority of D. M. 
Matteson, the following figures for the increments during suc- 
ceeding administrations, these figures being exclusive of the 
growth of the service: "Cleveland, during his first term, added 
the railway P. 0. service and revived the departmental classifi- 
cation, in number 11,757 places. Harrison classified the Indian 
service, Fish Commission, Weather Bureau and free delivery 
offices, having less than 50 men, adding 10,535 places. Cleveland, 
during his second term, made large additions, including the Inter- 
nal Revenue, Government Printing Office, Custom House, Life 
Saving, Light-House services. Engineer Department of War De- 
partment, Ordnance Department, Navy Yard, rest of Indian serv- 
ice. Pension surgeons, in number 38,961 places. McKinley added 
3,261 places. Roosevelt made numerous net additions, but the 
rural free delivery and the classification of fourth-class post- 
masters were the chief, in number (this does not include Panama 
Canal) 34,766 places. Taft: Assistant postmasters and clerks, 
navy-yard artisans, fourth-class postmasters, numbering 56,868. 
Wilson : The classified service had a large growth under Wilson, 
amounting on June 30, 1917, to about 40,000. Most' of this is 
probably growth." 

Competition by Executive Order 

Aside from appointments vested in the President by the Con- 
stitution, there' are more than 13,000 places, including postmas- 
ters of the first, second and third classes, collectors, marshals 
and district attorneys. Which under act of Congress must be 
filled by presidential appointment, subject to confirmation by the 
Senate. These cannot be transferred to the classified service ex- 
cept by statute, but President Wilson, by an executive order of 
March 31, 1917, directed that open competitive examination 



should be held for postmasterships of the first, second or third 
class vacant by death, resignation or removal, the highest quali- 
fied eligible to be appointed. President Harding, on May 10, 
1921, changed this order, making it apply to all vacancies in the 
classes described, but permitting the Postmaster General to cer- 
tify to the President for appointment any one of the highest 
three qualified eligibles. 

The Merit System in the States 

When we turn from the Federal service to that of the states, 
counties, townships and municipalities, we find, as might be 
expected, a somewhat less cheering picture. But at least it may 
be recorded that an encouraging start has been made. Of the 
states, New York was the first to place a civil service law upon 
her statute books. A law was passed in May, 1883, which re- 
lated to the State service, and this was soon supplemented by one 
providing the same system for the larger cities of the state. 

The operation of the merit system in the State of New York 
was such as to enable its supporters to contend successfully in 
the constitutional convention of 1894 for a clause writing the 
principle of the merit system into the constitution of the state. 
The wording of this clause has been so praised, and has served 
so often as a model for other constitutional clauses, that it is 
worth quoting here: "Appointments and promotions in the civil 
service of the state, and of all the civil divisions thereof, includ- 
ing cities and villages, shall be according to merit and fitness, to 
be ascertained, so far as practicable, by examination, which, so 
far as practicable, shall be competitive." 

Massachusetts followed the example of New York, enacting 
in 1884 a civil service law, applicable to cities as well as to the 
state government. There followed years of progress in the per- 
fecting of methods of applying the new system of appointments 
and promotions, but it was not until 1905 that Wisconsin passed 
a state law and Illinois made a partial reform, which was ex- 
tended in 1911. Colorado and Indiana made a beginning in 1907, 
and New Jersey passed a comprehensive law in 1908. In 1912 
Ohio adopted a constitutional amendment in favor of the merit 
system, and in the following year California came into line. Con- 

10 



necticut also in 1913 passed a weak law, which was repealed in 
1921 — the only instance of a state taking this backward step. 
Kansas placed its state service under the merit system in 1916. 
Colorado adopted a strong constitutional amendment in 1920, 
and in the same year Maryland passed an effective law. 

The Merit System in Cities 

The progress of the merit system in municipalities has been 
continuous though slow. In certain states the cities are brought 
under the operation of the state law — for the laws of the ten 
states now having civil service laws, as briefly enumerated above, 
differ widely in scope and effectiveness. In New York and Ohio 
all cities have their own commissions under the state law. In 
New Jersey the municipalities adopt the provision of the state 
law subject to a referendum to the voters (and it is interesting 
to note that in only one instance has a referendum in New Jersey 
been lost). In Massachusetts all cities are under the direct 
jurisdiction of the state commission. In other states many 
cities have adopted the merit system by special legislation or 
charter provision. When the bitter opposition of politicians is 
considered, it is a distinct cause for encouragement that more 
than 350 cities of the United States are under some form of civil 
service control. Of the one hundred largest cities in the coun- 
try by the census of 1920, no less than 72 have adopted the 
merit system in whole or in part; and this number includes the 
twenty cities of largest population. 

To those who are impatient for a political millennium, the 
progress of sound principles in dealing with the problem of civil 
employment may seem slow. It is only necessary, however, to 
glance back over the foregoing brief survey to realize the aston- 
ishing change that has taken place even within a generation. 

Government as a Business Corporation 

Yet a mere acceptance of the principle does not solve the 
problem, as may be realized by considering some of its impli- 
cations. 

The civil service should take no account of political questions 
as such. The Federal government is a huge corporation, a going 

11 



concern with an immense business to transact, possibly the larg- 
est single employer of labor in the world. In state and munici- 
pal affairs this aspect of government as a business corporation 
is even more prominent, and the political aspect less important, 
i:han in the Federal service. 

From this point of view the citizens are stockholders of the 
corporation. The elected officers are its directors, and the civil 
service is the body of employees hired by the directors to carry 
on the business. Every citizen stockholder is vitally affected by 
the selection of these employees. Upon their efficiency depends 
in the largest degree the dividends which he draws from his 
corporation, in the way of police and fire protection, educational 
and business facilities, and all the hundred and one things for 
which his money pays, directly or indirectly, in the form of 
taxes. 

Let us, then, place ourselves in the position of the stock- 
holder in a corporation, and let us look upon the President, the 
Senators and Representatives, or the Mayor, the Comptroller and 
other elected officers of our city, as the men whom we have 
selected to conduct our business for us. That we shall expect 
them to pursue the general policy to which they pledged them- 
selves in return for our vote goes without saying. But we want 
to know whether they have proved themselves competent execu- 
tives, whether the organization has run smoothly, whether the 
work has been accomplished economically, with the wisest pos- 
sible expenditure of the money we are putting into the busi- 
ness. Particularly we shall want to know whether they have 
practiced a true economy in the handling of their labor, which 
is perhaps the great test of administrative efficiency. 

The Spoils System in Business 

When we get at the facts, we learn that the man we have 
placed at the head of our affairs has curious ideas about the 
conduct of a business. His first act had been to dismiss as many 
of the old employees as possible without absolutely bringing the 
business to a halt. Not merely the heads of departments, mark 
you, but the rank and file. His own newly appointed heads of 
departments were authorized to fire indiscriminately, and to 
replace the old men with their personal friends. 

12 



When challenged, he admits the facts. His defense is: 
"To the victors belong the spoils." We shall make short shrift 
of him, for he is an anachronism. In his place we elect a hard- 
headed, self-made man, who has conducted a small business of 
his own with conspicuous success. 

The new man promises well. He has no particular debts to 
pay with jobs, and he takes the work of administration seriously. 
But it is not long before we learn that he has a weakness. He 
prides himself on being "a judge of human nature." In his own 
business he employed only a handful of men, every one of whom 
he came to know personally. He hired and fired, and ^ he was 
proud of the fact that he always made up his mind instantly 
whether he liked a man or not. Perhaps he was a judge of human 
nature. But he made the mistake of assuming that his heads of 
departments were equally infallible. We find his heads of depart- 
ments all hiring men, dismissing men, without restraint, each 
according to his own will. 

Evidently this president, too, must go. He was a good man 
in a small business, but this is a large business, and he is too 
ignorant of the methods by which big businesses are run in these 
days. A new president must be elected, and because the plant is 
now in shocking condition as a result of the labor difficulties 
of the previous incumbents, the stockholders insist that the new 
president shall be a man accustomed to the ways of modern 
business. Further, since a wise management of labor is at the 
very base of business efficiency, they insist upon the installation 
of an employment system such as the great corporations, like the 
Standard Oil Company and the Pennsylvania Railroad, have been 
driven to employ. 

So important has this matter now become that a committeb 
of the stockholders undertakes to outline the principles of a 
system that will result in economy and thus conserve their capi- 
tal. After careful study of the methods employed by various big 
corporations, they bring in a plan, which proves to be very simple 
and largely a matter of common sense. 

A Business Employment System 

The first rule of the new system is that anyone may apply 
for a job, and stand as good a chance as anyone else if he can 

13 



show that he is qualified. This sounds so self-evident that it 
would scarcely have seemed necessary to state it, but for the 
fact that there had once been a rule that no man could get a 
job unless he w^as a friend of some man who already worked in 
the plant. The next is that every man applying for a job must 
fill out an application blank, and submit to a test of his qualifica- 
tions for that particular job. A bookkeeper must demonstrate 
his ability to write a clear hand, his accuracy in figures, his 
knowledge of and experience in his trade. A machinist must show 
his familiarity with the tools he is to handle. These tests were 
called examinations, and there was some outcry at the word. But 
plumbers and carpenters who applied were soon to learn that 
the "examinations" were not concerned with ancient history and 
quadratic equations, but with their ability to do the work of 
plumbers and carpenters, shown largely by bench tests. And 
they learned too that the most skilful man generally stood high- 
est in the test, and that he (or, in some cases, one of the three 
highest) got the job. 

The committee of stockholders found that, according to the 
experience of great employers of labor, it was safer to take the 
work of employing men out of the hands of department heads and 
centralize it in a separate department. The department head has 
much to do, and the hiring of men is only an incident of his 
duties. He may dislike the work and do it badly, and there is 
always the danger that he may have favorites. Of course his 
advice and help would be invaluable as to his own department. 
He should be consulted as to kinds of tests for particular jobs, 
but the actual work of hiring was given to a commission of three, 
and their authority was made final. 

The question of promotions and dismissals troubled the com- 
mittee of stockholders not a little. At first it was thought that 
if methods of employment were sound, these other questions 
would not be troublesome. As one distinguished stockholder said 
of dismissals: "If the front door is properly safeguarded, the 
back door will take care of itself." But experience and investiga- 
tion showed that it was almost as important to provide for 
removal of the incompetent, protection against removal or threat 
of removal of the capable, and retirement of the superannuated, 
as for a proper selection of material in the first place. In order 

14 



to lift the question of promotion above the caprice of the head 
of a department, it was ruled that a simple system of efficiency 
records should be kept in each department, and that promotion 
not only within the grade and department, but from grade to 
grade, as well as transfer from one department to another, should 
be made by the commission in accordance with these records, 
with an examination where new knowledge or different experi- 
ence are required in the higher position. 

As for dismissals, it was held that discipline required that 
the head of department should always have the power of removal 
for cause. But to aid him there should be employment experts to 
standardize work, introduce the best modern business methods, 
and give a scientific basis for ascertaining the incompetents who 
should be removed. 

But what of the employee who has served the company faith- 
fully, but has grown old in the service and incapable of per- 
forming his duties longer? Even the hard business man, sup- 
posedly without sentiment, cannot bring himself to turn such an 
employee out to starve. The obvious remedy would be a sound 
pension system, and the advice of actuarial experts was sought. 
The safest method, they said, was first to pay employees a decent 
wage, sufficient to enable them to save something, and then re- 
quire them to create their own pension fund. A certain small 
percentage of each employee's wages, based on scientific prin- 
ciples, should be placed each year in the fund, which the corpora- 
tion may not touch, though it should pay the costs of 
administration. 

The stockholder's committee had not gone far in its labors 
before the question canie up, how far the new rules were to be 
extended. One zealous member of the committee, a recent con- 
vert to "efficiency," contended that they should apply to every 
employee alike, from the president's confidential secretary to the 
janitors. He argued, with entire logic, that it was even more 
important to get the best qualified men for the higher positions 
than for subordinate places; that a test of fitness could be 
applied to the treasurer of the company as well as to a messenger 
boy (though it would have to be a very different sort of test) ; 
and he ended by advocating that the stockholders should elect 

15 



an employment commission of three, who should be absolutely 

responsible for all appointments, even that of president. 

The argument was persuasive, and met with much approval. 
Nevertheless the committee decided on a modification of the 
plan. It was pointed out that the president, for instance, as 
head of the company, must largely determine its policies; that 
he must be in contact with the directors, so that personality 
counted for something; in short, that more was involved in his 
election than purely administrative efficiency. In lesser degree 
the same was true of other high officers, who would be closely 
associated with him in determining policies. It was decided 
that offices which had to do directly with the determining of poli- 
cies should be filled either by direct election of the stockholders 
or by appointment of the president; that their functions should 
be confined to the determination of policies, but that all other 
heads of departments and high officials charged with carrying 
out those policies and entrusted with promotions and dismissals 
of subordinates and general detail administration should be 
experts selected by experts; that is, that there should be a 
distinct separation of the individuals entrusted with determining 
policies from those entrusted with the carrying out -of those 
policies; that the former should be elected or freely appointed 
and the latter selected by competition. Not only would discipline 
be better, but a body of trained experts would be established, who 
would introduce efficient management into every department; for 
it is not enough for the success of a corporation to have good 
buildings, efficient subordinates, and wise general policies, but 
there must be good managers of the details of production and 
control of discipline. 

4 

Again, to assist in making dismissals and promotions, it was 
found that standards for measuring the amounts and quality of 
work, both group and individual, were helpful, and in adopting 
modern business methods, such as proper routing, saving unneces- 
sary steps of employees, getting rid of unnecessary duplication 
of work, and the like, it was advantageous to bring employment 
and efficiency experts into the departments. Some corporations 
carrying out this policy had changed loss into profit. 

And the committee rested from its labors. 

16 



The Aim of Civil Service Reform 

Is this a fanciful picture of the principles and the working 
of what used to be called with utter contempt "snivel service 
reform?" In essentials, no. In the recommendations of this 
imaginary committee of business men there is nothing that is 
not either a part of the actual workings of the so-called "merit 
system" in some civil service, or a definite part of the program 
of the National Civil Service Reform League. In one import- 
ant historical aspect it is fictitious. Our imaginary committee 
is represented as copying its recommendations from the practice 
of the great corporations. Actually the employing systems 
now in effect in many of these corporations were antedated by 
the work of the Federal Civil Service Commission and by some 
of the state and municipal commissions. The business man has 
taken a leaf from the book of the once despised reformer! 

Are Examinations Practical? I 

Since the commonest of all objections to the competitive ex- 
amination of civil employees is that the examinations are not 
practical, it will be interesting to quote one of the most competent 
authorities on this point, Mr. George R. Wales, formerly Chief 
Examiner of the Federal Civil Service Commission, and now one 
of the three members of the Commission: 

"An essential part of the functions of a civil service com- 
mission, as of any other employment office, is to conduct constant 
research and investigation as to the appropriateness of its exami- 
nations. There is no such thing as the civil service examination, 
as is attested by the fact that during the fiscal year ended June 30, 
1920, the Commission held 917 different kinds of examinations, 
not 'including the so-called non-educational examinations for 
trades or mechanic positions. Nor is the form of an examination 
for any particular position fixed once and for all; on the contrary, 
it is constantly changing. A good example of this is the changes 
that have taken place in the familiar examination given for 
entrance to the general clerical grades in the departments at 
Washington. This so-called general examination has been changed 
since 1883 no less than thirteen times. 

17 



"This same history of changes could be r^jpeated with respect 
to all the other examinations which the Commission has held 
for any period of years, for the reason that Governmental activi- 
ties reflect any change in educational or industrial activities, and 
the Commission endeavors to keep abreast of these changes. 
During the period of the war, for example, when ordinary condi- 
tions were reversed, and the Government became the seeker for 
workers instead of the workers seeking positions with the Gov- 
ernment, examinations were stripped practically to the simple 
proposition of determining eligibility, because all persons found 
eligible were almost assured of appointment; but this does not 
mean that the standard of eligibility was in any essential lowered. 
Now that conditions are gradually tending toward normal, how- 
ever, the Commission is not off-hand restoring the pre-war tests, 
but is making such investigations as its limited appropriations 
permit to ascertain as nearly as may be the appropriateness of 
each form of examination to test fully the qualifications required 
in any group of positions." 

The Non-Assembled Test 

But the politician has still one ambush from which to attack 
a system which he abhors. Such examinations may be all right 
for stenographers and clerks, he says, but it will never work for 
the higher positions. You can't bring a lot of doctors, for 
instance, into a school room and examine them to select a health 
officer. Good men will refuse to submit to such an examination, 
and you will only get the incompetents. It was precisely to meet 
this objection that the so-called non-assembled test was devised 
and put in practice. The somewhat formidable phrase means 
simply that candidates are not required to assemble in a room 
and take the examination simultaneously. A certain task is 
sometimes set, designed to test the fitness of the candidate (for 
example, in the case of an engineer it may be the writing of a 
thesis or article), and in addition and mainly, a searching 
scrutiny is made of the candidate's record to ascertain his past 
education, training, achievements, and personal qualifications. 

By means of the non-assembled test the United States Civil 
Service Commission has filled hundreds of highly technical posi- 

18 



tions requiring executive and organizing ability in the Bureau 
of Mines, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Public 
Health Service, the Forestry Service, and many other bureaus 
and departments; and the high standard of work in the scien- 
tific and technical branches of the government service has been 
thus successfully maintained. In Chicago, such positions as city 
engineer, city auditor, and chief librarian, at salaries ranging 
from $3,000 to $8,000 a y6ar, have been filled. In New York 
City, when the office of coroner was abolished and the position 
of Chief Medical Examiner substituted, the position was filled 
most satisfactorily by non-assembled competitive examination. 

An interesting test of the workings of this method was the 
selection by non-assembled competitive examination, under the 
President's Executive Order, of a postmaster for the city of 
Worcester in 1918. There were about twenty-four candidates, 
the salary being $6,000, at that time the largest ever paid to a 
competitive employee in the Federal service. Immediately after 
the appointment of the candidate of highest standing, the Na- 
tional Civil Service Reform League wrote to about thirty promi- 
nent business and prof essional men of Worcester, of both parties, 
asking their opinion of the results of the competition. The 
answers to these letters showed a striking unanimity. It was 
agreed not only that competition was an immense improvement 
over the old ways of politics, but that the man who received the 
appointment was the best person .available. 

Altogether about one thousand such positions, including that 
of postmaster of Boston, with a salary of $8,000 a year, have been 
so filled. This, after all, is practically the method that the 
president of a great railroad would pursue m seeking to find a 
competent division head. 

The Cost of the Merit System 

Such is the story of the method of applied common sense 
wherever it has been fairly tested. In summary of the value and 
cost of the work of the Federal Commission, it will be illumi- 
nating to quote Mr. Wales once more: 

"How well or how ill does the Commission perform its work 
and how much does it cost are two natural and proper questions 

19 



which should be answered. Fortunately the Federal merit system 
has been in effect sufficiently long to reach certain conclusions. 
During the administration of President Taft an economy and 
efficiency commission was formed of outside experts who made 
a partial study of the Government service, including in some 
offices an investigation as to efficiency of employees relatively 
to their ratings in the civil service examination through which 
they entered the service. That Commission reported a remark- 
able correspondence between the ratings; that is, the employees 
having the highest record for efficiency also had attained in most 
instances the highest ratings in the civil service examination. 
That report, of course, argued for the practicality of the entrance 
test. 

"Figures also have been compiled covering the Internal Rev- 
enue Service under the pre-war laws and showing that it cost 
materially less per capita to collect the taxes when deputy col- 
lectors were under the civil service system, as they were in 
1912, than when outside that system, as in 1896. Since 1913 
these local deputy collectors of Internal Revenue have again 
been exempted by statute from civil service examinations. 

'The Railway Mail Service statistics are likewise most inter- 
esting. Records of individual performance are kept annually for 
this service by the Post Office Department, and they show that 
for the seven years immediately preceding the application to this 
service of the competitive examination system the number of 
pieces of mail distributed by each employee annually averaged 
1,230,731, the number correctly distributed for each error being 
3,931. The average number of errors made by each employee 
annually in distribution was 335. A steady gain was shown 
each year following classification, but grouping together the 
twenty years following classification, the average number of 
pieces distributed annually by each employee was 1,504,164, an 
increase of about twenty per cent. For the first decade follow- 
ing classification the errors averaged one to every 8,627 pieces 
of mail distributed, or 183 per employee annually. For the 
second decade the errors averaged one to every 11,307 pieces of 
mail distributed, or 131 to each employee annually. 

"Some of this notable improvement in efficiency in the Rail- 
way Mail Service was doubtless due to better conditions under 

20 



which the work was done and to better administrative methods; 
but the competitive examination system is clearly entitled to a 
share in the cause of this showing of efficiency and economy, and 
this seems especially true of the decreases in errors. It is fair 
also to add that the examination system without question con- 
tributed to better methods of administration by providing a 
more intelligent and capable force, and one more amenable to 
discipline than could have been obtained under the patronage 
system; Furthermore, it is in point to emphasize here the fact 
that the merit system affords the Government the entire popula- 
tion as a recruiting field, whereas under patronage the field of 
choice is limited by personal or political acquaintance or favor- 
itism. The head of the Railway Mail Service at the time officially 
stated that he could not have secured this increased efficiency 
without the aid of the merit system. 

"The foregoing figures as to the Internal Revenue and the 
Railway Mail Service afford a comparison between the merit 
system and the spoils or patronage system, with the inevitable 
conclusion that the former gets the best results at the lowest cost ; 
but the recent war with Germany afforded far more interesting 
comparisons between the civil service merit system and the 
usual system in private industry, and the result again was to the 
credit of the merit system, and overwhelmingly so. One example 
only is cited. In a statement issued about two years ago by the 
Naval Aircraft Factory at Philadelphia, which was organized and 
administered principally by business and industrial experts, the 
following appeared: 

" 'On October 1, 1917, the first mechanic was hired at the 
Naval Aircraft Factory, the only government-owned institution 
of its kind in the United States. On November 1, 1918, there 
were 3,642 men and women employed in building flying boats for 
the Navy. . . . Out of the nearly 4,000 employees at work today 
not more than 25 had previous experience in other aircraft fac- 
tories. . . . Civil Service rules, at first looked upon as a handicap, 
had to be dealt with and naval regulations were to be taken into 
consideration at every step. . . . Testimony of the generally 
satisfactory caliber of the employees secured under civil service 
is found in the fact that it was necessary to hire a total of only 
6,035 persons to provide for the growth of force and for replace- 
ments. In private industry it is often necessary to hire eight to 
ten persons before a satisfactory employee is secured. Further 

21 



testimony of the generally satisfactory caliber of the working 
force recruited under civil service is found in the fact that only 
139 persons have been discharged for cause since the start of the 
factory.' 

"Industrial experts, after making surveys of representative 
plants, have stated that it cost from $75 to $150 to train each new 
employee, and have argued from this the necessity of establishing 
a definite employment policy to reduce turnover. The experience 
of the Naval Aircraft Factory, as reported in the preceding 
paragraph, demonstrates how effectively the merit system accom- 
plishes this result. The work of a civil service commission 
therefore is not an overhead charge on a government, but is an 
essential part of its productive machinery. 

"The ultimate saving brought about by a practical employ- 
ment policy would justify considerable expenditures to maintain 
it, and yet the figures compiled by the Federal Commission show 
only moderate cost for the results attained. Taking into con- 
sideration every item of cost in the Commission's work, including 
the services of employees of field offices detailed as members of 
boards of examiners to conduct examinations, it cost the Govern- 
ment only $6.37 to make each of 179,533 appointments during the 
year ended June 30, 1919. Using this same total of expenditures 
it cost the Government $2.61 to examine each of 438,269 com- 
petitors during the same period. 

"Viewing the cost of the Commission's work from another 
angle, it may be stated that the yearly cost to the Government 
for all the activities of the Commission for a period* of ten years, 
ending June 30, 1920, was only $1.17 per person on payroll. This 
compares favorably with the cost of $4.40 per person on payroll 
of fourteen of the largest private employers in the United States, 
to whom the Commission recently sent a questionnaire designed 
to elicit information as to the relative expense of employment 
offices in private industry. ' It is, of course, only fair to add that 
these employment offices usually conduct welfare work that is not 
within the functions of the Federal Commission; but, on the 
other hand, they are not required to make investigations as to 
prohibited political activity, nor to maintain a careful system of 
certifying eligibles under an apportionment of appointments 
among the different states, and for charging against the respec- 

22 



tive states all appointments in the Departmental Service at 
Washington, with credit to the appropriate state for each separa- 
tion from such service." 

The Price of Efficiency 

In theory, the Merit System is well established. Few men 
in this day of business efficiency would care to advocate openly 
a wholesale return to the old spoils method of filling public 
offices. The Merit System has been endorsed by practically 
every statesman whose guidance has in recent years been gen- 
erally accepted by the people.* Is the fight then won? Should 
the National Civil Service Reform League and its constituent 
state associations disband? Can the citizen, the stockholder in 
this great enterprise of popular government, sit back and con- 
gratulate himself that all goes well with the business of which he 
is one of the owners? The truth is that, much as has already 
been done, the great work of Civil Service Reform remains to be 
accomplished. It will not be finished until the employment 
methods, not only of the Federal Government, but of every state 
and municipality, are on a par with the best knowledge and prac- 
tice of modern business. It must not be forgotten that in thirty- 
eight out of forty-eight states there is as yet no effective barrier 
to the use of places as the spoils of office. Hundreds of cities 
still fill their places in accordance with ideas that originated in 
and were appropriate to the Dark Ages. 

But even though there were model laws, there would still be 
need for increasing viligance to see that the laws were not evaded. 
The spoilsman, defeated in the open, becomes a guerilla warrior, 
seeking to debauch the service through constant appeals for ex- 
emptions from sound rules. 

The overcrowding of oflSce with supernumeraries to give jobs 
to politicians rather than because their services are needed is 
notorious. Again and again requests have been made for many 
persons who were thought to be exempted and when found, they 
were under the civil service rules their services were not required. 
The Boston Board of Aldermen voted for an assistant director 



'See quotations from American Statesmen on last page. 

23 



for the very few ferry boats in Boston Harbor. The one slated 
for the position was a brother of a leading Alderman. When it 
was found that to fill the position required open competitive 
examination, the Board withdrew the appropriations and abol- 
ished the office. 

The most striking case was that in the Bureau of Printing 
and Engraving, where the United States notes and bonds were 
made. It had been exempted from the civil service rules and had 
become a favorite dumping ground for the favorites of members 
of Congress. It was officially reported by a committee of the 
Senate and confirmed by Mr. Graves, the head of the department, 
that he had about 575 supernumerary employees who were so in 
the way of the regular workers that shelves had to be provided 
in which they spent the larger part of their time in sleep. The 
total unnecessary cost for these was in the neighborhood of 
$400,000 a year. 

Reclassification 

Even where the modern business system has made headway, 
it is often incomplete and badly administered. In the Federal 
system, for example, the jurisdiction of the Commission extends 
in practice only to appointments. Having certified an appointee, 
it has no means of following that appointee, of checking and 
correcting its work in the light of subsequent experience. There 
is indeed no sort of system of co-operation between departments 
as to employees. One department may have a plethora of stenog- 
raphers^ another may be badly in need of them; but the separat- 
ing walls are watertight. The classification of employees of 
the Federal Government is at present a hodge-podge, a thing 
of hoary traditions and precedents, some of them inherited from 
the very beginnings of the Republic. One of the great tasks 
in which the League is now engaged is to assist in the imperative 
work of reclassifying the service, applying the equitable and 
economical principle that the same work shall receive the same 
rates of pay (subject only to regular automatic advances for ser- 
vice after the first year for exceptional efficiency) by requiring 
all Government authorities, once the fact of similarity in duties 
is determined by the Commission, to make all salary rates within 

24 



the class uniform. To this end a committee of the League made 
up of men of experience in the civil service, as administrators, 
and in the preparing of legislation, has made an exhaustive 
investigation and has embodied its results in a bill which has 
been placed at the disposal of the appropriate committees of 
Congress. 

A Pension System 

Until recently there was no general provision in the Federal 
service for retirement and pension. It was largely owing to the 
activities of the League that this subject came up for legislation, 
resulting in the passage of a retirement act in 1920. The act, 
though a step in the right direction, does not conform to all the 
principles advocated by the League, and leaves room for future 
work in procuring its amendment and improvement. 

Extension of the Classified Service 

There are still over 13,000 positions in the Federal service 
which must be filled by law by appointment of the President, con- 
firmed by the Senate. No valid reason exists why these places, 
excepting only those of the highest administrative and judicial 
officers, should not be filled by competitive examination. Two 
Presidents in succession have recognized this as to far the 
greater number of these positions; namely, postmasters of the 
first, second and third classes, by executive orders which direct 
the Civil Service Commission to hold examinations, and pledge the 
appointment in accordance therewith. It is highly desirable, 
however, that both the postmasters and the other officers of the 
group, including United States marshals, collectors, and district 
attorneys, should be transferred by legislative enactment to the 
classified service. 

Promotions 

Promotions in the Federal service have long constituted a 
problem. One or two important departments have instituted 
promotion systems, but in general, aside from infrequent special 
promotion examinations, promotion depends upon the attentive- 
ness or the caprice of the head of the department. Obviously 

25 



promotion should be based upon past performance; and this 
implies a system of records of the efficiency of employees. Under 
the Federal law the Commission apparently has jurisdiction 
over promotions, but in practice, because of lack of appropria- 
tions and because of lack of an adequate classification of the 
Federal service, it has been able to do little in this matter. 
Experiments in the matter of service records have been made 
by various commissions, notably in New York, both city and 
state. The results of these experiments have varied, and the 
best method is perhaps yet to be found. Such experiments as 
have been made, however, show that in the last analysis the 
success of any system will depend largely upon the person 
administering it. And that is one of the reasons why the heads 
of the departments who are not the policy-determining officials 
should be selected by competition and not on political grounds. 
An incompetent or indifferent head of department can defeat 
the purposes of the best of systems, and public administrators 
still need a vast amount of education as to their business 
responsibility in the huge corporation of government. 

An objection once commonly urged against the merit system 
(it is not so often heard nowadays) was that it established a 
life tenure — /that once in the service an employee, no matter how 
incompetent, was protected in his job as long as he chose to hold 
it. Nothing of the sort, of course, was ever advocated by those 
who have had the good of the public service at heart, nor has 
any so-called civil service reform law ever contained such provi- 
sion. In all Government service it is essential that the responsible 
head of department should have the right to remove an incompe- 
tent employee, and the National League has never advocated 
taking away this right. It has insisted, however, that there 
should be no right to remove for political reasons. On the other 
hand, it has opposed the review by the courts of grounds of a 
removal with its consequent impairment of discipline, uncertainty 
of tenure, delay, cost and demands upon the precious time of 
the removing official. 

Veteran Preference 

Since the world war a new and subtle danger has threatened 
the civil service in a widespread demand that war veterans be 

26 



given- preference in appointment to public service. This danger 
is new only in the magnitude it has acquired since the M^ar ; in 
principle it is older than the merit system itself. Shortly after 
the Civil War a lavi^ v^as passed giving preference in the Federal 
service to veterans of that war, discharged because of wounds 
or sickness incurred in the line of duty, and nearly every state 
had a similar provision. Paradoxically, these laws became 
harmful only as the practice of appointment for merit gained 
ground. So long as appointments were made for political rea- 
sons, it made little difference that the politician was theoreti- 
cally bound to appoint veterans first. But in spite of the 
specious appeal to patriotic sentiment, it will readily be seen 
what such a law means when applied to a business organiza- 
tion. Consider, for example, the situation in the State of New 
York, in which a proposed amendment to this effect was defeated 
in the election of November, 1921. There are in the state about 
125,000 positions subject to civil service rules. There are about 
half a million veterans. The amendment, had it passed, would 
have meant that any veteran who could barely pass the exam- 
ination for a given place (with a mark of seventy or even sixty- 
five) would be preferred for appointment to the non-veteran 
with a mark of ninety-nine. Recently some accountants for the 
income tax department of the United States Treasury were 
selected from the civil service lists. Under the veteran pref- 
erence law some who had obtained between 65 and 70 only, 
on a combination of experience and knowledge, but who 
were veterans, had to be preferred to others with splendid records 
of experience and passing almost perfect tests of knowledge of 
the subject. As returns covering billions of dollars a year have 
to be inspected by these accountants, one can see the enormous 
• loss to the Government and trouble to honest business men that 
would be caused by forcing the far less competent into the Gov- 
ernment service. 

This premium upon relative incompetence at once encourages 
the incompetent veteran to try for appointment, and discourages 
the competent non-veteran. The effect of the law withm a few 
years, when veterans who had failed in the open competition 
of business life had gradually drifted into the public service, 
would be literally disastrous. It is a sorry sort of patriotism 

27 



that would reward men for doing their duty by debauching the 
public service in their interest. The Civil Service Reform League 
and its constituent Associations oppose such legislation with all 
their strength, solely on patriotic grounds. As might be expected, 
they have the support of great numbers of the veterans them- 
selves, who ask no odds for themselves, but who demand that 
no such misguided efforts shall distract attention from the plain 
duty of the Government to rehabilitate or care for the wounded 
and disabled veteran. 

The Program of the Future 

Here, then, is the program of the National Civil Service Re- 
form League : In the main it is to secure efficiency, economy and 
business management in the government service and to destroy 
the corrupting spoils system and to that end to extend the 
principles and practice of the merit system to the thirty-eight 
states and the hundreds of cities and counties which are now 
without adequate laws; to extend the Federal law and the state 
laws already in existence to cover positions now exempt; to 
assist in perfecting methods of administration in conformity with 
the soundest business theory and practice; to resist at every 
turn the attempt of the man who is in politics for what there 
is in it to bring the public service back under his control. It is 
a big program, and the work will not be done in a few years ; but 
as to its soundness and its importance there can scarcely be, two 
opinions among honest men and women, and it should command 
the support of every good citizen. 



28 



STUDY COURSE IN THE CIVIL SERVICE 
OF OUR GOVERNMENT 

Prepared by Mrs Clarence L. Atwood, 
Chairman, Minnesota Federation of Women's Clubs 

I. 
HISTORY OF CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 

Eaton, Dorman B Civil Service in Great Britain (Introduction 

by George William Curtis). Harper & 

Bros., NeviT York. 
Bryce, James. • • American Commonwealth. Macmillan Co., 

New York. 
Bryce, James. • • Modern Democracies. Macmillan Co., New 

York. 
Foulke, Wm. D Fighting the Spoilsmen. G. P. Putnam's 

Sons, New York. 
Rhodes, J. P History of the United States from Hayes to 

McKinley. Macmillan Co., New York. 
McBain, H. L DeWitt Clinton and the Origin of the Spoils 

System in New York. Longmans, Green 

& Co., New York. 

IL 
PRINCIPLES OF CIVIL SERVICE REFORM 

Arguments on which the movement for civil service reform is 
based may be found in the following: 

Curtis, G. W. Orations and Addresses. Harper & Bros., 

New York. 
Schiirz, Carl • • . . . The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz. Double- 
day Page & Co., New York. 

Roosevelt, Theodore Autobiography. The Macmillan Co., New 

York. 
American Ideals and Other Essays. G. P. 

Putnam's Sons, New York. 
The Strenuous Life. Century Co., New 
York. 

Eliot, Charles W Addresses in Proceedings of National Civil 

Service Reform League. 

Dana, R. H Addresses in Proceedings of National Civil 

Service Reform League. 

Adams, Jane The Humanitarian Value of Civil Service 

Reform. Survey, April 6, 1912. 

Lathrop, Julia The Common Sense of Civil Service. 

Published by General Federation of Women's Clubs, 

Washington, D. C. 

Report of President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency in the 

Government Service, 62d Congress; and Messages of 

President Taft to Congress. 

Good Government: Official Publication, National Civil Service Reform 

Reform League. 

29 



III. 

THE FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE AT HOME AND ABROAD 

Fish, Carl R ••.... The Civil Service and the Patronage. 

Longmans, Green & Co., New York. 

Mayers, Louis The Federal Civil Service. D. Appleton & 

Co. 

Munro, W. B Government of the United States. The Mac- 

millan Co. 

Stanwood, Edward History of the Presidency. Houghton Mifflin 

Co., New York. 
American Embassies, Legations and Consulates, a report by the 
American Embassy Association, 505 Fifth Ave., New York City. 
Report on the Foreign Service, National Civil Service Reform 

League. 
Proceedings of National Civil Service Reform League. 
Reports of the United States Civil Service Commission, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

IV. 
CIVIL SERVICE IN STATES AND CITIES 

Beard, Charles A American Government and Politics. The 

Macmillan Co., New York. 

Holcomb, A. H State Government in the United States. 

The Macmillan Co., New York. 

Matthews, J. M ....••... . Principles Qi American State Administra- 
tion. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

Munro, W. B The Government of American Cities. The 

Macmillan Co., New York. 

Fitzpatrick, Experts in City Government. D. Appleton 

& Co. 

Fairlie, John A Local Government in Counties, Towns- and 

Villages. 

Woodruff, C. R New Municipal Program. D. Appleton & 

Co. 

Reports of local Civil Service Commissions. See especially New York 
State Commission, Albany, N. Y.; Massachusetts Commission, 
Boston; Wisconsin Commission, Madison; Illinois Commission, 
Springfield; New Jersey Commission, Trenton; New York City 
Commission, Philadelphia Commission, Chicago Commission, and 
Los Angeles County Commission. 

National Municipal Review, published by National Municipal League, 
261 Broadway, New York. 

V. 
MAKING CIVIL SERVICE EFFECTIVE 

1. Recent trends in entrance examinations. 

The Civil Service in Post- War Readjustment, by Morgan. 
Annals, American Academy of Political Science, March, 1919. 

2. Classification and Standardization. 

J. L. Jacobs and Company. Report on Reclassification and 
Salary Standardization, New Jersey State Government. 

30 



Report of Congressional Joint Commission on Reclassification 
of Salaries in the District of Columbia. Document No. 
686, 66th Congress, Second Session. 

Joint Hearings before the Committees on Civil Service, Con- 
gress of the United States, 67th Congress, First Session. 
Reclassification of Salaries. 

First Report of Senate Committee on Civil Service in Rela- 
tion to Standardization of Public Employments in New 
York State. Senate Document No. 40, March 27, 1916, 
New York State Legislature, Albany, N. Y. 

Standard Specifications for Personal Service, Bureau of 
Standards, Board of Estimate and Apportionment, City 
of New York, June, 1916. 

3. Superannuation and Pensions. 

Lewis Meriam. Principles Governing the Retirement of Pub- 
lic Employes. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

Reports on the Pension Funds of the City of New York, by 
Commission on Pensions, 1916. 

Pensions for Public School Teachers, by Clyde Furst and 
I. L. Kandel, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement 
of Teaching, Bulletin No. 12. 

A Comprehensive Plan of Insurance and Annuities for Col- 
lege Teachers, by Henry S. Prichett, Carnegie Foundation 
for the Advancement of Teaching, Bulletin No, 9. 

Annual Reports of Carnegie Foundation. 

Reports an Analysis of Pension Funds, by George B. Buck, 
Consulting Actuary, 256 Broadway, New York City. 

Reports of Superannuation Committee of National Civil Serv- 
ice Reform League, published in Proceedings of the 
League. . . 

Annual Reports of United States Civil Service Commission. 

4. Problems of Local Civil Service Administration. 

Arthur W. Proctor, Principles of Public Personnel Adminis- 
tration. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

Louis Mayers, The Federal Civil Service. D. Appleton & Co., 
New York. 

Training for the Public Service, published by Bureau of 
Municipal Research, New York City. , t^ . . 

Universities and Public Service, published by Cantwell Print- 
ing Company, Madison, Wis. 

Woman's Place in the Civil Service, by May B. Up'shaw. 
Published by Federation of Women's Civil Service Organ- 
izations, Municipal Building, New York City. 

Opportunities for Women in the Federal Civil Service, by 
Mrs. F. H. Cole, General Federation of Women's Clubs, 
Maryland Building, Washington, D. C. 

Your Home and Civil Service Reform, by Mrs. Imogen B. 
Oakley. Published by National Civil Service Reform 

Proceedings and publication of National Civil Service Reform 
League. 

31 



PUBLIC STATEMENTS OF AMERICAN STATESMEN WITH 
RELATION TO THE MERIT SYSTEM. 

"The merit system of making appointments is in its essence as 
democratic and American as the common school system itself. It 
simply means that in clerical and other positions, where the duties are 
entirely non-political, the applicants should have a fair field and 
no favor." Theodore Roosevelt. 

"We have nothing more important in relation of the administra- 
tion of government than a system — the best that has yet been devised — 
of securing men of the needed capacity by competitive examinations, 
whenever such examinations are practicable. I believe in that; I 
thoroughly endorse it, and I hope to see it extended throughout the 
States of the Union." Charles E. Hughes. 

"Civil service reform is so fundamental that all other reforms 
must rest on it." Charles W. Eliot. 

"The spoils system is not essential to effective party organization. 
On the contrary, it tends to prevent effective party organization. It 
tends to keep out of the organization the men whose services would 
be most effective." Elihu Root. 

"I am, if possible, more than ever convinced of the incalculable 
benefits conferred by the civil service law, not only in its effects upon 
the public service but also what is even more important, in its effect 
in elevating the tone of political life generally." 

Grover Cleveland. 

"If we selected employes according to the length of their noses, 
it would be better than the political spoils system of appointment." 

William H. Taft. 

"I am a hearty believer in the principles of civil service reform 
and shall take pleasure at all times in doing what I can to promote 
those principles in practice." Woodrow Wilson. 

"The whole subject of government efficiency and government thrift 
compels my interest because it is outrageous for public administration, 
which should be an example and a guide to our people, to induige in 
waste and extravagant inefficiency. As any business man knows, the 
conduct of his business depends upon the men who do it. Therefore, 
though the necessity for a budget system is great, perhaps even 
greater is the need for a system which will give Federal employes a 
square deal in promotions, pay and continuity of service while obtain- 
ing for the Nation's taxpayers, in return, a high standard of skill 
and continued loyalty among the employes who serve them." 

Warren G. Harding. 

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